


Until Albion's need is the greatest

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 19:32:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur watches Merlin as the boat drifts into the mists of Avalon</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until Albion's need is the greatest

**Author's Note:**

> Yup, I made myself cry while writing this, so be warned. 
> 
> Thanks, issy, for the beta!

Arthur felt like floating as he looked down onto the boat. That was…oh, right. He had died. He had known since Mordred had stabbed him with the sword that he wouldn’t make it. Not even Merlin’s magic could have saved him. 

‘Until Albion’s need is the greatest.’ A whisper around him, but Arthur couldn’t see anyone. He wasn’t sure how he saw anyway since it was clearly his lifeless body on the boat making its way to the island.

And then he noticed Merlin at the shore. His manserva…his friend had tumbled to the ground and tears were rolling down his face as unseeing eyes watched the boat move away. No man is worth your tears, Merlin. But Arthur’s heart jumped. He didn’t waste time pondering how his heart, that obviously had stopped beating, could jump, but seeing Merlin crying, crying over him, made him smile. 

Merlin had understood what he’d tried to tell him with his last breath. That he loved him. Ever since that first meeting in the market. Or maybe it had taken a while for him to realize, but he loved Merlin. And Merlin had understood what the ‘thank you’ he was able to croak out really meant. 

‘Until Albion’s need is the greatest.’ He tried to bat the whisper away like an annoying fly.

Arthur floated closer and reached out to touch Merlin’s face, but of course he couldn’t. And Merlin didn’t feel him trying. His Merlin. Beautiful, even though his eyes were swollen and red-rimmed, tears streaming down his face, his lips trembling. 

‘Until Albion’s need is the greatest.’

Merlin had hugged his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth, still staring to where the boat had vanished into the mists of Avalon. Once in a while a sob chocked him but he didn’t even bother to wipe the tears away anymore. 

Arthur tried to pull him into a hug, tried to tell him that everything would be okay, that he didn’t need to cry. 

‘Until Albion’s need is the greatest.’

He felt himself being pulled towards the mists, towards the boat, towards the island with the strange little tower on it. He threw another look at Merlin and all of a sudden knew: Merlin was magic; he was the very earth itself. Merlin was Albion. 

‘Until Albion’s need is the greatest.’

The answer to his return lay on that little island and with a last look at the man he loved, Arthur let himself be pulled over to the other realm. When Merlin needed him, he would find a way back. 

The whispers around him died down and Arthur felt the whisperers smile.


End file.
